Prayers to go at Fort Lauderdale church drive-thru

FORT LAUDERDALE They run a drive-thru service, but they don't want your prescription or your dry cleaning. They won't ask if you want fries with that. And they won't charge a cent.

At the Christian Life Center, all they want to do is pray for you.

For five Fridays, volunteers of the Pentecostal congregation have waved people into its driveway at 2699 W. Commercial Blvd., under the double-wide canopy. There, the volunteers ask what's on your heart. Divorce? Foreclosure? Surgery? Chewed out by the boss? No problem too big or small.

"Many times they're at the end of their rope, and a lot of them have never come to church," says Outreach Pastor Sol Levy, who leads the ministry. "This is less intimidating."

In the five weeks since the Fort Lauderdale church has started its drive-thru prayer service, response has gone from 15 to 25 cars, for a total of 150 people, leaders say. And that's just for less than two hours on Fridays.

Call it a non-alcoholic alternative. While many on Friday afternoon seek out a pub for Happy Hour, a small but growing number prefer a shot of prayer.

"A lot of people are so busy these days; I don't always get a chance to go to church anymore," says Susan Lee, smiling from her SUV on Friday just after praying with a volunteer. "This isn't everything I need, but it's a good pick-me-up."

On Friday, about 10 volunteers prayed in a circle with Levy, then split up. Half waited to pray with people, half headed roadside with signs bearing messages like "Having a Bad Day? Free Prayer." Some drivers honk as they pass, though few stop.

Sometimes the drivers are friendlier than the weather. Gray clouds threatened but refrained from dropping rain. But they kicked up cold winds that caught the roadside placards like sails, forcing the volunteers to brace themselves.

No big deal for stalwarts like Elijah Gabriel, of Sunrise. "I'm delighted to be doing it. Anything you do for God creates a kind of joy in your heart."

Around 5:30 p.m., there's a mini-rush on the drive-thru. At one point, the canopy shelters two cars and two SUVs. Volunteers work smoothly but without obvious hurry, praying and chatting with the drivers. They also offer church information packets and even bottles of water.

Drive-thru prayer is a still-small though widespread phenomenon, in Texas, Georgia, Utah, Michigan, California and elsewhere. Perhaps it was inevitable in a land where drive-thru car washes, pharmacies and fast-food restaurants are common sights.

"People don't like institutional structures, especially those connected with religion," Greenspahn says. "They want spirituality, but they don't want to pay for the lights and water. So the church is trying to meet people where they are."

Drive-thru prayer has a defender in Robert Montreuil of Plantation, visiting Christian Life Center for the second time on Friday.

"To a casual observer, it may seem like it's cheapening faith," Montreuil says. "But it's truly an additional opportunity to connect with people at the time of their need."

With the drive-thru prayers successful but still new, the church won't decide for a few months whether to add any more days, says Sol Levy, the outreach pastor. But he smiles in mock horror at the suggestion that he may be fostering a new drive-thru congregation.

"We really want them in there," he says, pointing to the doors of the church. "They need more than a prayer. They need a relationship with Jesus."